


Breaking the Rules

by dragonwings948



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friendship, Mystery, Post-Episode: s09e12 Hell Bent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23781307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonwings948/pseuds/dragonwings948
Summary: When a strange woman turns up in front of the Doctor's TARDIS, he's immediately on guard. But she claims she needs help--and when people need help, he never refuses.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor & Clara Oswin Oswald, The Doctor & Clara Oswin Oswald
Kudos: 22





	Breaking the Rules

**Author's Note:**

> I've actually had this idea written down for years, but I just rewatched Hell Bent recently and decided to actually do something about it. I did not intend for the ending to happen like it did, the Doctor just took charge and I was along for the ride! XD

The Doctor muttered the words to an old 80’s ballad he couldn’t remember the name of. He walked down a deserted street with a skip in his step. Though everything about him exuded happiness, inside, the Doctor harboured terror. Dread. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Death was right on his heels and he was only just running fast enough to escape it. 

It didn’t matter that he had just saved the Prime Minister, stopped a car crash, and very possibly introduced memes a decade too early. Somehow, his success didn’t bring the same satisfaction it usually did. 

Maybe it was because there was no one beside him to share it with. 

In the distance, the Doctor finally saw it: the seemingly unimportant speck of blue that was his safe haven. 

And there was someone waiting in front of it. 

The Doctor stopped singing and increased his stride. The stranger was a young woman with short brown hair and dark eyes that held a spark of zeal for life. She leaned back against the TARDIS and locked gazes with him as he approached. The Doctor couldn’t help but feel like he knew her from somewhere. 

“Can I help you?” the Doctor asked. 

The woman straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest. There was a strange smile on her face; it was pleased, but sad, too. Very sad. “Maybe.” 

The Doctor paused a few feet away. His paranoid thoughts immediately suspected the worst: was she there to kill him? Had he really run so far and for so long just for it to end here? 

But as he looked into her eyes, he didn’t see a murderer. She looked human, sure enough, but there was something else about her, something wrong…

“I know I’m sort of an enigma to you,” she said apologetically. 

Memories struck him but flew by too quickly. He  _ had  _ seen her before. But where? When? He couldn’t quite remember. 

Then the thing that was wrong hit him. She had no heartbeat. 

“Who are you?” 

She shrugged her shoulders a little. “I can’t tell you. Not really. I’m a friend, though.” Her eyes scanned over him and she frowned. “You look like you could use one of those right now.” 

That broke through the Doctor’s shell of confusion. “I don’t need anyone.” He swept past her into the TARDIS and shut the door quickly behind him. He went straight to the console and started working the controls. 

The door creaked open. 

The Doctor spun on his heel. “What?” 

The woman stood before him with a smirk on her face. At least she had had the decency to shut the door behind her. 

“How did you do that?” 

The splendour of the TARDIS was obviously lost on the woman as she held up a silver key. “I’ve got a key. And don’t worry, I didn’t steal it.” She stepped forward and ran her hands across the coral growths with a smile. 

“You’re from my future,” the Doctor stated. It would make sense; the feelings of familiarity, the fact she had a TARDIS key… Part of him wanted to push her out and leave, but she was also a mystery begging to be solved. 

“Or your past.”

Clever. Very clever. The Doctor felt like he needed to be on his guard. He still didn’t understand why he couldn’t hear her heart beating. 

“What do you want?” He circled the console slowly, straight across from her. 

“No need to get defensive,” she said, raising her hands. “I just want what anybody wants from the Doctor.” She met his eyes and her guard went down. He could nearly read the tale of sadness in her expression. “Help.” 

The Doctor frowned. He could still make her leave the TARDIS. She’d done nothing that showed him he could trust her. And yet he knew she needed help. He could see it. 

“What sort of help?”

“More like advice, really.” She fell into the jumpseat and nodded appreciatively as she leaned back. “Much more comfortable,” she muttered. 

The Doctor felt himself starting to go mad at the questions piling up, none of which he was getting answers to. “Did you have to work at being this enigmatic?” 

“My mystery is the only thing keeping me here.” A knowing smile played at her lips.

The Doctor was silenced. She obviously knew him well.  _ Too  _ well. “Fine,” he sighed, coming to stand next to her. “Tell me.” 

She paused. Compassion shone in her expression. “It’s about Donna,” she said softly. 

He wanted to turn his back on her right then. The memory of Donna’s tears and protests were still so fresh that they throbbed like physical wounds. 

“Well,” the woman continued, “not really about her, but…” She pressed her lips together. “My best friend lost all his memories of me.” She tapped a finger on her knee and couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “I don’t know what to do.” 

Not even questioning how she knew so much about his past, the Doctor dragged a hand over his face and leaned back against the railing beside her. “And you think I can tell you how to go on?” he asked quietly. 

The woman scoffed. “Came a bit too early in your timeline, I think. Even you haven’t figured it out yet.” 

“How do you know?” 

“I see it in your eyes.” She gazed up at him. “You’re not the Doctor right now. You may act like him, but inside…” She took his hand. “You don’t feel like him.” 

Slipping his hand from her grasp, the Doctor paced a few feet away. How did she know him when he didn’t even know himself? It wasn’t fair. 

“Doctor?” 

There was familiarity in her tone. At that moment, the Doctor knew it was what he was missing the most: someone to say his name like that. 

The Doctor looked up. This was probably--no,  _ definitely-- _ breaking the rules. 

But he was owed better than this lonely existence. 

He ran to the console and started readying the TARDIS for dematerialisation. The woman shot to her feet. “What are you doing?” 

The Doctor smiled as finally,  _ she  _ was the one with a question. “You said you needed advice on how to keep going.” He paused. And for the first time in a very long while, he smiled. “We can figure it out together.”

The woman’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She obviously hadn’t expected anything like this. “But--I can’t, my friend’s waiting for me.” 

The engines started up. The Doctor wagged his eyebrows. “Time machine.” 

Slowly, the woman’s lips spread into a smile. “Seriously?” 

“Very seriously.” He held out his hand. “Welcome aboard, Miss…?” 

She seemed to think about her answer as she took his hand. “Oswin,” she decided. “You can call me Oswin.”


End file.
